SPECIAL EVENTS
| During my stay in Hong Kong from June 30th to December 13th there have been quite a few special events like the mid-autumn festival, a boat trip, the German bierfest, and a night at the races that I would like to present in greater detail in this section. Hope you enjoy it! |
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One
of the most memorable days - if not the most - was the mid-Autumn
festival in September. Sven, Andreas, Amanda, Lukas, Martina and
me took the bus to Repulse Bay where we sat down at the beach with
candles and lanterns just like the hundreds of other people there.
It was a blast! A unique atmosphere and great conversations. Later
that night we went dancing in Lan Kwai Fong (right photo).
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| In September, Dolores, a trainee at WestLB Hong Kong (left photo), was able to organise the WestLB company yacht for a day and invited other trainees to come along. We shipped through the islands near Sai Kung and dropped anchor at two very beautiful beaches before we returned to Queen's Ferry Pier in the evening, a sunburn inclusive. On the right photo you can see my flatmate Sven, Anja, Nina and Maria. |
| In October, the Marco Polo Hotel hosted once again the traditional Marco Polo German Octoberfest, which is the largest and longest Octoberfest in Asia. All the AHK staff were invited by Lufthansa to attend the bierfest before the official opening and it was great to enjoy Bienenstich (a cake coated with sugar and almonds and filled with cream), rote Grütze (a type of red fruit jelly) and Sauerkraut after months of privation. Marzena participated in an alphorn contest and Marcel showed off his yodeling skills on stage. German humour, however, was not promoted that night and the live music included songs that you maybe liked 10 years ago but really can't stand anymore, i.e. YMCA. |
| On one Wednesday evening, a group of nearly twenty people (including all AHK trainees) tried to discover just why the races are so popular in Hong Kong. Much of the popularity is probably due to the fact that it is the only form of legal gambling in Hong Kong. We tried our luck as well and all lost - except for Alexander who made a fivefold return on his investment. |
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A bunch of German students who at the time lived in the PolyU student halls of residence organised a German Night and it was a great success. Almost 100 interested Chinese students showed up and created a very pleasant and warm atmosphere as the students held their presentation (my region of Northrhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federal state, was not included as none of the presenters came from there). Later that night the local students had the opportunity to taste German food (again from Southern Germany) like pretzels, sausages and beer and still later Daniela announced the winners of the lucky draw. |
| In October, the Goethe Institut in cooperation with the Swiss, Austrian and German consulates organised the annual German language Max! Film Festival. We were invited to attend the opening night with the opening film Goodbye Lenin! and a concert of "Die Prinzen". (photo left) On the other photos you can see Sven, Stefan, Marcel (who turned 25 that night), Henry, Daniela and Florian. |
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As the Djembe is one of my favourite pastimes, I took every chance that presented itself to play. Most naturally, I could not take my Djembe to Hong Kong but once a month Tom Lee music was hosting a Drum Jam. They provide 100 percussion instruments and everyone who is interested can come and join the group. I participated twice, once I even had to play a solo in front of all the spectators as the instructor Kumi pointed at me and signalled to everyone else to stop. How embarassing... |
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Links:
The Marco Polo Hotel German
Bierfest
Drum Jam Hong Kong